


The Exchange System

by TheRedHero11037



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Final Fantasy Secret Santa 2015, M/M, Multi, dumb fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 04:43:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5525816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRedHero11037/pseuds/TheRedHero11037
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There always had to be a system, otherwise it got messy. From a system of trust to a system for figuring out whose socks where whose, it was important to stay organized. The holidays were no exception.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Exchange System

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Up_sideand_down](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Up_sideand_down/gifts).



> Merry Christmas!!! I was really nervous about getting up-sideand-down as my secret santa considering the Sharkmeister was basically my first step into FF7 fic, but I think I did well! Please enjoy!
> 
> (Fun fact! I'm Jewish! So happy whatever else that isn't Christmas!)

There always had to be a system, otherwise it got messy. From a system of trust to a system for figuring out whose socks where whose, it was important to stay organized. The holidays were no exception. It gets complex when not everyone celebrates Christmas. Angeal wasn’t too religious but was raised with Hannukah, Sephiroth had only started celebrating anything once he’d met Genesis and Angeal. Not to mention that Cloud was new to the whole mess. It was Zack’s solution to do a full exchange, making sure everyone got at least something they liked. Zack kept tabs on things, the way always he did when it came down to making everything perfect for the five of them. He kept track of the dates on the calendar, all down to December 25th, 2:30 pm, when they would all be awake and home to open presents.

They’d awoken that morning a bit sluggishly. They came down one at a time to start their mornings (or afternoons, in Zack and Cloud’s case) and place the prepared present on the coffee table. Three of the five remained on the couch there for a good couple of hours, talking about this and that, or nothing at all. Zack and Genesis got rather kissy around the time when Cloud came home, but there was less of a carnal need and more of a desire to be close.

Sephiroth was the last to make it. He’d had a meeting until two-thirty. When Zack heard the key scratching in the lock, he leapt to his feet, tossing poor Cloud off his lap indelicately and coaxing an indignant squawk from Genesis as Cloud’s weight landed on him. Zack was bouncing on his toes when Sephiroth entered and hung up his coat. Sephiroth gave him an absent kiss and joined the other four on the couch.

Five small presents sat on the coffee table. Zack distributed them with ease. The blue-and-white round one with the loud yellow bow went to Angeal. The one wrapped printer-paper copies of Loveless pages was obviously for Genesis. The oversized recycled gift bag (edited to say “Happy Birthday Christmas”) was delicately placed in Sephiroth’s lap. The wide one with a poorly drawn Chocobo on it was for Cloud. The one left over was a little gift card box with a dreidel sticker on it reading “Zack”.

“Cloud first,” Zack declared. “He’s the newest, we should let him go first.”

Cloud opened his present with the utmost care, making sure to rip as little paper as possible. The effort was ruined when he caught a glimpse of what was underneath and ripped it free. “The Visual Encyclopedia of Motorcycles,” he read, excitement thrumming in his voice. “Oh my god. I’ve had my eye on this for ages.” He whipped around, trying to figure out who got it for him. Sephiroth blushed, shrinking under Cloud’s vivid gaze. Cloud gently set the book down and smothered Sephiroth in a hug. “I never… How’d you know? Do you really pay attention that closely?”

“In all honesty, I guessed,” Sephiroth murmured. “I know you like motorcycles, so I just—“ He was cut off as Cloud resumed his chokehold of a hug and babbled his thanks. Zack snapped a picture.

“Perfect,” he said, admiring his work. “Cloud, who did you get?”  
“Oh, um. Genesis. It’s nothing too special,” Cloud settled back down to watch him open it.  
Genesis flashed that charming smile at him. “Anything from you is special, Cloud. Let me see…” He examined the pages, unsure of how to proceed without harming his favorite book. “I, um. Wow, this is really thorough.”

“You have 7 copies of Loveless already, I think you can rip the paper.” Sephiroth reached over to help him start, but Genesis held it away.

“It was so kind of you to think of this, Cloud,” he said as he attempted to keep it from Sephiroth’s long fingers. “Really, truly creative.”

“If you don’t open it, I’ll open it,” Angeal threatened.

“I’m going to open it, Angeal, trust me.”

“You’re stalling. Is it really that important?”

“Relax! See, I’m going.” Genesis just barely tugged at the tape. “Mm, but I love that passage under it.”

“Sorry.” Cloud scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

The air was split with the sound of ripping paper, and everyone looked over at Zack, who’d taken the opportunity to tear the top of the paper off. He put the puppy-eyes on. “I did it so you don’t have to.” It was meant as baby-talk, but Zack couldn’t keep a straight face, and just ended up cackling.

Genesis pursed his lips and huffed before removing the rest of the paper and opening the cardboard box underneath. He blinked and removed a pile of red cloth from underneath. “Is this what I think it is?” He unfolded it. “It is.” His eyes went wide and his mouth pulled into a grin.

The sweater was appropriately hideous. It was that deep Christmas red that Genesis loved so much, with his name in pine green along the bottom. Sequins were carefully glued on in the shape of, what else, a dumbapple, and five glittery reindeer surrounded it.

“Cloud,” Genesis purred, gleaming eyes peeking out from behind the horrid sweater, “did you make this yourself?” Cloud nodded. Genesis’s smile went from bright to burning magnesium. “It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. I love it.”

“I was hoping you were an ugly sweater person.” Cloud scratched the back of his head, suddenly sheepish. “I did the design myself.”

Genesis immediately began wriggling out of his shirt to put on his ugly sweater. “It’s perfect for me. You have good taste. He stood up and posed. “How does it look?”

“Fantastic,” said Angeal warmly. “How does it feel?”

Genesis blinked at the red wool covering his arms. “Absolutely perfect, even around the arms.” He wrapped Cloud in an itchy hug. “Ohhh, thank you. I knew I loved you for a reason!” He cried before covering Cloud’s face in kisses. Cloud giggled from the candy cane striped headlock.

Zack clapped his hands impatiently. “Who’s next?” Genesis pointed to Angeal, and Zack’s smile turned to Angeal. Angeal grinned and began carefully removing the paper after sticking the bow onto Zack’s head. He was always delicate, but especially so with wrapping paper. He figured he got it from his mother’s delicate touch. It was good he was, though, because soon his fingers pulled the paper away from glass.

“What’s this, now?” Angeal murmured as he was faced with a dome of clear glass. Mosses lined the inside, with a tiny little house placed on a little mossy hill.

“Surprise!” Genesis cheered, “a new terrarium! Complete with the beginnings of a fairy garden. Handmade by moi!” Genesis tossed his hair with a flourish as Angeal set his present down with the utmost care and took Genesis’s hands.  
“So you can be sweet sometimes,” he snarked, pressing a soft, wet kiss to Gen’s lips. “Thank you.”

“It was no trouble,” Genesis replied, a bit bashful with how Angeal reacted. His cheeks were even going a bit pink from the attention. “You should give Zack his present,” he added hastily.

“No, he should give his first. Mine’s going to take a bit.”

“What?!” Zack butted in. “C’mon, Angeal, we had an order!”

“Yes we did,” Angeal shot back, “and I’m not going to make Sephiroth wait for his.”

Zack puffed up his cheeks. “Fine, Seph. Go ahead and open yours.”

Sephiroth mumbled his thanks and began removing the tissue paper from the bag one bit at a time. “This bag is entirely too large for this present,” he mused as he finally took out the lump of tissue paper holding his present. He unwound the paper surrounding it and removed it, then tilted his head, silver hair falling aside and eyes narrowing. “It’s a rectangle,” the Silver General declared, and Zack nearly fell down laughing.

“I take it you’ve never had a MP3 player then?” Cloud quirked an eyebrow to match the amused smirk crossing his lips.

“Is this what this is?” Sephiroth held it closer to his face. “I thought it would be more like my CD player.”

“Well, it isn’t!” Zack sat down heavily and poked the front of the “rectangle” to open the screen. “I’ll give you a private lesson. For now, just know that I put a ton of opera on it.”

Sephiroth’s eyes flashed with excitement. “The only thing I love more than you four,” he joked. “Thank you.” And with that, he pressed a kiss to Zack’s cheek.

“My turn,” Zack announced. He picked up his little gift card box.

“Enjoy it,” Angeal said, working hard to keep the laugh out of his voice.

Zack lifted the lid. It was a note. Go check the fridge. Zack stood up fast. “I swear to every holy thing there is, if it’s a jar of apple butter I’m going to slam dunk it faster than you can blink.”

“Slam dunk it into the trash, please. Less clean-up for me,” Sephiroth mused as he examined his own present.

The fridge had been mostly emptied out to hold a rather large box in a menagerie of leftover wrapping paper. Zack stared at it, glanced back at the other four, and tore the paper apart. Zack blinked at a rice cooker box. “Are you trying to say something about my cooking?”

“Keep going,” instructed Angeal. He sat on the floor.

Bemused, Zack opened the box and found a pan wrapped in green. He tore into it and found a pan holding another box. How wonderful, more paper to tear. He held it up and tore the blue paper off that and opened it. Still no dice. A little yellow-wrapped package containing… A little green wrapped package. “Quite the chain you have here,” Zack laughed.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Genesis sighed, slumping against the doorframe as Zack freed a bandaid box from its minty prison and dumped the contents into his hand.

“A wallet!” he cheered, but then after a closer look... “Hey, this is my wallet!” Zack pouted and stuck a finger inside, withdrawing only a piece of paper. “And I had 30 gil in here! Angeal!”

Angeal had to stifle a laugh. “Read the note. Come on.” Zack tutted and looked at it. Broom closet. 

Genesis held open the door to display a hip-height, phallic package in bright pink paper. “Turning out to be quite the scavenger hunt, isn’t it?” He teased.

Zack took the present out, rolling his eyes. “I see why Seph went before me. Liking that Verdi?”

“Absolutely,” replied Sephiroth. His gleaming eyes were half-closed in the bliss of an aria he particularly fancied.

Zack hurriedly tugged off the paper, grin falling as he unwrapped their own vacuum cleaner. “Angeal!” he scolded, but Angeal was just cackling from his place on the floor. Zack found the thing that was out of place on the vacuum. A nondescript black box laced with purple lines, reading “Ecstasy Creations, vendor for only the most intimate nights.” Zack’s expression turned devious, and the five crowded around to see it opened.

Angeal wished he’d been filming his boyfriends’ reactions. Sephiroth’s chuckle would have went viral for how cute it was, Zack and Cloud’s faces fell to disappointment in perfect sync, and Genesis nearly slapped him.

“You’re such a tease!” Genesis grumbled. “It’s just a teddy bear!”

“It’s holding another note,” Sephiroth pointed out.

Cloud picked it up. “‘Turn around’?”

All four turned to stare at Angeal. Angeal took a different wallet out of his pocket and handed it to Zack. “New wallet. And inside?”

Zack opened it. “My 30 gil!” Then, he took out a small plastic card. “Is this a membership card?”

Angeal nodded. “Remember that rock gym you showed us?”

“Yeah, wasn’t it fun?” 

“Yep. That’s why I bought you a membership. It’s two years.” Angeal hugged him. “Thanks for being our entertainment.”

“It was actually pretty silly. I had fun.” Sephiroth added himself to the hug, and Cloud jumped in under Sephiroth’s arm. Genesis’s was the slowest in, but held the tightest.

It was bliss just being there together, holding each other close, smiling wide and placing kisses on each other’s faces. That was the best part of all their days together. They held tight and nuzzled and decided to move their gifts into a little pile so they wouldn’t block the TV as they cuddled and watched Christmas specials the whole night long.


End file.
